followup

awhile back, in an entry called "unfinished business," i talked about a hit and run that happened back in st. louis two years ago. some jerk blew through a red light in a 98 yukon and took out a guy on a mountain bike, breaking his leg and his pelvis and puncturing his lung.

lots more detail in the earlier post, but briefly:

the prosecutor went to the trouble of getting a grand jury indictment, and the perp was required to post a secured bond of $25k. but then he failed to show for some pretrial hearing, because (as it turned out) he had been jailed across the river on a burglary charge (unrelated, unless maybe he was trying to pay off the bail bondsman).

eventually he pled guilty on what they call a "blind plea," meaning the prosecutor was not offering to recommend a reduced sentence. the maximum sentence in missouri for leaving the scene, class d felony, is four years prison and a $5k fine. the judge actually did impose the four years, but then suspended execution on two years' probation. apart from the usual conditions -- weapons, controlled substances, associating with other criminals, checking in with your probation officer before leaving the area, etc. -- the probation order required the guy to keep a full time job.

what prompted the earlier post was that there was a hearing scheduled to revoke the probation. at the time i supposed that he might have lost a job, but from talking with the prosecutor's office i am gathering that this was actually some kind of fallout from the burglary conviction in illinois.

so anyway this is an update.

bottom line, on february 19 of this year the probation was reinstated. if this guy can stay out of trouble until march 25, 2011 (which does seem unlikely), he is clear.

oh, and he is required to pay $46 to the victims compensation fund. not clear whether he has paid that yet. also unable to find whether the victim has sued the guy for his injuries, which were pretty severe . . .